The advent of monsoon while providing relief to the citizens of Delhi-NCR also forced the reptilian population to leave their burrows to seek refuge at safe places. This triggered a spate of rescues by the conservation organisation Wildlife SOS.

A total of 20 reptiles have been rescued in Delhi-NCR since the start of the month including 3 Indian cobras, 7 Common sand boas, 3 Monitor lizards and 7 Indian rat snakes.

Among the above two Indian rat snakes were found entangled in synthetic nets in two separate incidents. One was found in that situation inside a farmhouse in Gurgaon where the security staff seeing the reptile in distress called the NGO. The second incident happened in Yamuna Bank Police Station area where a 5-foot-long snake was found entwined in a net in a park.

The NGO’s rescue unit removed both from the net. Currently under medical observation, they will be released in the wild once declared fit.

The unit also rescued three monitor lizards. One was found inside a residence in Shyam Vihar, Najafgarh. On seeing the rescue team, the lizard jumped into a water tank and it took 30 minutes to bring out the reptile from there.

At Delhi Jal Board’s Jhandewalan office 5 baby Common Sand boas were found. Two more sand boas were rescued from a house located in Lodhi Railway Colony and a sewage pipe in Okhla Phase I, respectively.

The rescue of a Cobra from an Indian Oil plant in the Madanpur Khadar area and another from a DDA apartment in Dwarka, Pocket 8, Sector-12 wrapped up the reptile rescue marathon session.

Speaking about these reptile rescues, Wasim Akram, Deputy Director-Special Projects, Wildlife SOS said: “As the rains bring much-needed relief to everybody in Delhi-NCR, it also displaces these reptiles from their homes in forests. Thus, they try to seek shelter elsewhere and enter homes and offices. We get maximum calls for reptile rescues in the monsoon season and sometimes we end up rescuing up to 6-8 reptiles a day!”